The Problem of Knowing in My Kinsman, Major Molineux
Consider the meaning of ambiguousness: for something to have two contradictory meanings, with emphasis on the unknown. In, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses ambiguity, as well as other writing tools, to tell a pre-Revolutionary war story about a young man's journey from childhood innocence into the adult world of evils and reality. Hawthorne utilizes the power of setting, symbolism, and conflict, to name a few, to help portray the problem of knowing that is ever present through out the stories' entirety.
Foremost it is important to know the main character of the story: young Robin is on a journey from the country into town to find his kinsman, the Major Molineux. Robin's character is round in that it is complex and dynamic. He changes from the innocent youth he is in the beginning to an adult educated in the ways of evil and harshness. On the other hand, Major Molineux's character, which you never meet until the end of the story is flat: static and yet vital to the story: helping the reader see Robin's character more clearly. The other characters in the story are significant, but also flat; you never see too much about any of them, further enhancing the ambiguousness of the work. It is the mystery of these flat characters, such as the waiter at the tavern or the woman with the red skirt, which keeps you questioning what exactly is going on.
Robin's character is discovered in many ways through the conflicts with each situation he finds himself in through out his journey. Each conflict is carried through a sequence of events that leads to the climax and creates the characters. Robin's conflict starts with the elder authority figure that h...
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... will find his kinsman eventually and all will be well, but even the unsophisticated reader sees that something, if not everything, is not right. The ironic tone of the work aids in the problem of knowing not only for Robin's character, but also for the reader. This in itself may seem ironic, but Hawthorne utilized the power of irony to create question after question in both the character and the reader's mind.
In conclusion, it is attainable for you as the reader to understand the problem of knowing that Robin faces once you realize the many ingredients used to emphasize this problem. Hawthorne's deliberate use of symbolism, ambiguity, tone, setting and so on attribute to the effectiveness of his story. With these tools, the author was able to clearly represent the age-old story of man's journey from innocent naivety to adulthood in a unique and original way.
In The Scarlet Letter, author Nathaniel Hawthorne efficiently conveys his purpose to the audience through the use of numerous rhetorical devices in his novel. Two such rhetorical strategies Hawthorne establishes to convey his purpose of informing the audience of valuable life lessons in The Scarlet Letter are characterization and the theme of duality.
he used real life situations to relate what was happening to the reader. “It gave him,to the very depth of his kind heart ,to observe how the children fled from his approach.”(Hawthorne,Pg,109) To this day people still have to deal with situations similar to this, therefore he could relate to some of the readers. “Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape” He used an outdated style so some of the readers might not of been able to get the full picture if was trying to present.
The style of Hawthorne is deft and effective. His examination of Pyncheons two-facedness is formatted like a courtroom interrogation with Pyncheon on the witness chair. The climatic last tirade of the narrator releases all of Hawthorne’s disgust and revulsion in a captivating fashion. The organization and attention to what the reader is expecting keep the argument subtle and critical.
Dramatic irony is used through Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s return. His death had brought her such great sorrow but upon his return she died. Her death then created sorrier bringing in the irony of the beginning of the story where it was said that Mrs. Mallard’s heart was bad and she was tried not to be stressed.
Since ours is an age that has found irony, ambiguity, and paradox to be central not only in literature but in life, it is not surprising that Hawthorne has seemed to us one of the most modern of nineteenth century American writers. The bulk and general excellence of the great outburst of Hawthorne criticism of the past decade attest to his relevance for us(54).
In any novel worth reading there is use of basic rhetorical devices like symbolism, allusions, etc. Nathaniel Hawthorne viewed strongly abroad as excellent author for many reasons but none as prevalent as his use of symbolism. Hawthorne uses repetition, motifs and symbolism to poetically approximate allusions almost within every word of his book “The Scarlet Letter”. Symbolism is the adhesive in “The Scarlet Letter”, other than maintaining the reader’s interest, it also makes allusions to other famous works such as the bible, and he uses it to transition the exposition throughout the book. A white man standing next to an Indian was wearing “… clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume” (45) symbolizing the linimal position of the character in the story and in life. Although this symbol has one clear layer it also has a bi-layer to represent a different meaning. The matter that Hawthorne forms epic amounts of symbol s would have formed a problem if he hadn’t made it easy to depict the differences between his concrete symbols and his abstract symbols through repetit...
Hyatt H. Waggoner in “Nathaniel Hawthorne” testifies that Hawthorne’s ambiguity has proven to be an asset in the contemporary era when readers like such a quality in fiction:
Lang, H.J. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
...g and appreciation of qualities of characters, and hence, a deeper understanding of underlying motives and psyche. Intricate and methodical characterization is crucial to grasp the full meaning of a narrative.
In order to grasp the allegory Hawthorne communicated so skillfully, the story needs to be considered in a way that recognizes the blending of its historical background and its relationship to religious symbolism within that perspective.
In Hawthorne's use of symbols in The Scarlet Letter, we observe the author making one of his most distinctive and significant contributions to the growth of American fiction. Indeed this novel is usually regarded as the first symbolic novel to be published in the United States ( Dibble, p. 77 ) . Hawthorne attempts to spread a revelation into imagined characters and scenes, to transfer the realization of the symbols into a warmth that will animate the entire...
III. Comparable aspects of Hawthorne's characterization in The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables
In Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” the narrator’s thoughts and comments bring insight into the motivations of the character of the story. The story includes a long introduction in which the narrator, Hawthorne, describes how he heard the curious story of Mr. Wakefield. Hawthorne supplies his audience with a condensed version of the entire plot of the story. With this introduction, Hawthorne has already informed the audience of the story’s intriguing plot and this intensifies the audience’s desire to find out Mr. Wakefield’s motivations because they cannot comprehend why he would do such a thing. The audience will try to make sense of Mr. Wakefield’s actions, but they will not find a logical explanation. The story may seem unreal but the reader must take the story as it is and focus on the charact...
Determine all of the story's conflicts. Determine the major conflict and state this in terms of protagonist versus antagonist.
In Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, there is a broad array of symbolism throughout the entire book. The purpose of using symbolism versus writing out the meaning making an extraordinarily boring and bland book is that it makes the reader have to think more and delve into the deeper meaning of things. Hawthorne also uses symbolism to convey a much deeper mental image of his words to the audience. He uses an vast array of colors, unique characters and grave sin to portray an deeper unconvoluted meaning to the audience; also, by using symbolism, Hawthorne manages to broaden the knowledge and imaginary context of The Scarlet Letter to allow people relate to the novel through the scarlet letter.